FAYETTEVILLE, New York (AP) -- The singer and guitarist for the band Barenaked Ladies has been arrested on drug charges in upstate New York.

Police say Steven Page was charged with fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance on Friday in the Syracuse area.

Authorities say the arrest occurred at about 2 a.m. after police noticed a suspicious car with its driver's side door left open. They say they found Page and two women in a nearby apartment, along with cocaine and marijuana.

Barenaked Ladies' manager Terry McBride confirmed the charge to the Post-Standard of Syracuse but declined to comment further. The singer, released after paying $10,000 bail, is due in court Thursday.

Page helped form the band in 1988. The group, known for hits such as "One Week" and "Pinch Me" recently released their debut kids CD, "Snacktime."

Hilarious! The only thing this guy should be arrested for is wearing Birkenstocks, writing fluffy tunes and going on too many wine tours.

This is a blog from someone named Michael Crook. I find this whole thing rather fascinatin'.

Behind every good man is a good woman, they say. But sometimes, all it takes is a woman to bring a man down. Make no mistake: Barenaked Ladies singer Steve Page, of 824 Carlaw Avenue in Toronto, ON, is responsible for his actions which have brought him to where he is now, but to the left you see Christine Benedicto, who is (or was) Page’s girlfriend.

One thing that bears closer investigation is this photo. Benedicto says on her Flickr page (and yes, Page has one too) that it was taken in January of 2006, but uploaded April of this year. If in fact it was taken in 2006, and Page separated from his wife only last year, would that make Benedicto “the other woman”? In all fairness, numerous photos are marked as being uploaded in January 2006, but the photos are also marked as being part of an “England April 2008″ set. Judging from her Flickr page, it seems she’s taken numerous trips to London. So, it is possible a little adultery was going on. At a minimum, it does raise the question of just how long these two have been together.

It seems Page is in deeper than his fans would like to admit. There is one bit of good news, though: although state guidelines dictate a maximum of 15 years, and early indications from law enforcement confirmed that, Page’s lawyer claims that the most prison time Page could face is 5 1/2 years. At least his lawyer is preparing for reality.

Any fantasy that fans had about Page being an innocent babe in the woods who was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time was blown away by the release of court documents.

In the four-page packet, it’s obvious to see that Page is a coke fiend in the making, telling cops, finally, “yeah, it’s cocaine”, after trying to sell them the story that it was calcium.

The statement of his so-called friend Stephanie M. Ford, 23, (her private MySpace is here) who resides at the 311 E. Genesee Street, Apartment 1 address where it all went down, tells a lot. Ford, who works at Liberty Resources (which is a “human service agency”..I don’t know how many of them would want a coker helping them), seems to throw Page under a bus.

According to her, the whole mess started around 10:30pm last Thursday, when she, her friend Christine Benedicto, 27, and Page, who is dating Benedicto, were at JP Mulligan’s. There, Page became enraged after Benedicto was “flirting with another guy,” and the two “got into a huge fight.”

Ford followed Page back to the house, and Page said he was taking his toys and going back home to Toronto. Obviously, that didn’t happen. Ford “sat on him” on the grass at the house, so he wouldn’t leave, because, she says, he had been drinking. Who knew? A coker with a conscience?

But here’s where it gets good, folks.

Ford then claims that Benedicto took Page’s car keys, and drove off. This is important, because according to the Manlius Police, there may be additional charges forthcoming because of cocaine that was also found in the car.

She then claims after she went to her room, she saw Page at the kitchen table with that now-infamous bottle that claimed calcium was inside, though, she says, the label was all French to her. She then says the two used a Canadian bill to “snort the white powder”. Yeah, you snort calcium. She said, “we never discussed what the white powder was, but I thought it was cocaine”.

Um….you’re going to snort something without knowing what it is? I have to wonder if she has sex without condoms, too.

“At that point, a police officer knocked on the door and Steven and I invited him in,” she concludes.

Well, there we have it. There’s no way anyone can say Page was a bystander, and in fact, he appears to have instigated the whole drug usage. Combine Ford’s statement with the fact that there were more pills in his pocket, and this guy is definitely looking like the classic cokehead. Since Ford was a willing participant, she’s just as much of a coker as he is.

(Left: Christine Benedicto, from her Flickr page)

And what about Benedicto? She was arrested later that morning because of drugs found in the apartment. Just to give you a little insight into her, here is her Flickr page. There are no deep, dark secrets revealed, but by perusing through the photos, one can find that their apartment is, in fact, one of the typical homes in Syracuse split into “apartments”, with hardwood floors and everything. I don’t think that she knew two months ago when she took that picture, the place would become a coke house.

Who is Benedicto, anyway? A 2005 Yahoo profile under the screen-name “addylg” says she’s a “full-time student in public relations”, who at the time was attending Utica College of Syracuse University, seeking a PR/journalism degree. She still maintains a LiveJournal page, although it hasn’t been updated since last year. She also had a website, but it hasn’t been updated in years. Her AIM screen name, as posted on her own LiveJournal page, is ritterisgod911, but I’m sure she’s made it private due to all the..uh…fuss.

Benedicto is the ever-doting girlfriend, obsessively taking pictures of Page. 27 years old, she’s not bad looking at all. Come to think of it, her friend Stephanie is hot too. Hell, I’d hit those were it not for their apparent affinity for drugs. In fact, in a May 8th entry on her Flickr page (seen to the left), Benedicto waxes philosophical:

“his voice was so beautiful, it was like cocaine or caffeine, it was my addiction.”

Such an upstanding woman. In the end, though, it doesn’t matter how perky and petite a girl is, if she’s a druggie. Page didn’t get that memo, it seems.

As for the first court date, it has been adjourned to August 26, per a request from Page’s attorney, so that a defense can be mounted. Based on the facts, there is no defense. Hopefully, Page will get the maximum prison sentence, followed by permanent barring from further entry into our fine country.